Page 52 - APPENDIX B: Trials Investigating the Management of Acute Radiation-Induced Skin Reactions Reading Qualitative Research

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WOUND CARE

was rejected; therefore the researcher’s personal email was used as an alternate source to

communicate. Two weekly reminders were sent to all the potential participants. The online

survey was used to recruit nurse participants willing to also be contacted over the phone for an

interview.

Data collection procedures and instruments (Phase II). Data were collected using the

environmental scan survey. The single mode national survey was administered electronically.

Only one response was requested from each centre. Out of the 34 e-mail invites sent with the

tailored survey design, 18 FluidSurveys™ responses were received (n=18), of which 16 were

complete and two were incomplete. All available data was included in the analysis.

E-mail replies were received from five participants directing the researcher to other

appropriate participants. Two centres reported via e-mail that two staff got together to respond

collectively regarding the centres practice. These two e-mail responses assured the researcher of

the date planned by the participant to respond to the survey. The e-mail responses were

encouraging to the researcher. It conveyed not only the interest of participants across the country

but also the relevance of the topic under study.

The survey consisted of 14 items which were closed-ended questions with a mix of

multiple-choice answers and dichotomous responses. Demographics of the nurse participants

such as role or position and years of experience in radiation oncology along with their Province

and academic background are reported. The environmental scan survey is presented in Appendix

D. The sections i.e., ‘current practice’, ‘skin assessment’, ‘clinical decision-making’, and

‘management of open wounds’ form part of the environmental scan survey. The concepts of

‘skin assessment’ and ‘management of open wounds’ were operationalized with the collection of

factual data. The open text response details were obtained for the other specific answers, apart